For those who don't know what I'm talking about...
I'll just give you a brief before I tell you my opinion.

23 Korean missionaries who went to Afghanistan on July, was held hostage by Islamic Talibans. 2 people were killed during the negotiations. The Taliban demanded things that were impossible, such as, to release the Taliban officials who were in Afghanistan jail as an exchange for releasing the hostages. The Korean government promised to withdraw our troops, and other things, and the hostages were finally freed after being held for 43 days.

I'm a Korean, and I have to say I was quite surprised by the reactions from people in my country. There were lots of people, from young to old generations, saying that it's the peoples(who went to Afghanistan) own fault for getting kidnapped. That they shouldn't have gone to Afghanistan in the first place. I'm also a christian, but that... I understand. The thing I didn't understand was, that many Korean people didn't seem to wish them to come back home safe. I mean, even though Korean people don't have the same religions... Shouldn't they have stopped critizing, and just hope for the people who are being held hostages to come back safe?

Last edited by hyunge on Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:00 am; edited 2 times in total

23 Korean missionaries who went to Afghanistan on July, was held hostage by Islamic Talibans....There were lots of people, from young to old generations, saying that it's the peoples(who went to Afghanistan) own fault for getting kidnapped. That they shouldn't have gone to Afghanistan in the first place....Shouldn't they have stopped critizing, and just hope for the people who are being held hostages to come back safe? I mean, isn't that the national morality?

The people's reaction is understandable. If you see a person reaching out to softly pet an alligator, you naturally don't have much sympathy if the alligator bites their arm off. It is to be expected. It is the nature of the alligator.
In that light, it seems that most Korean people have a kind of bigotry against Muslims. It is not so hostile racism but rather the soft bigotry of diminished expectations.
Think about it. Most people would be very surprised if a group of devout Buddhists killed a group of Christian missionaries. But no one is surprised when a band of devout Muslims kill a bunch of Christian missionaries (or Buddhist monks or animists or gay wiccans or whatever). Brutal uncivilized behavior is just expected from that region. And by deliberately and willfully exposing themselves to that danger, the Korean missionaries endangered South Korea's international prestige by showing the Korean Republic's weakness in the face of a hostage crisis. And in your culture, isn't it considered rude to publicly show another person's weakness?
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And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
-C.S. Lewis (quote from The Abolition of Man)

I understand that when those 23 missionaries went to Afghanistan, they must have known about the danger that faced them. But as most people think, they probably thought that they wouldn't get kidnapped. That they would go on with the schedule without any trouble. I guess those thoughts itself was the problem here. And they shouldn't have gone to Afghanistan in the first place when the Korean Government kept tolding them to not go.
Any yes, due to the hostage crisis, we showed our weakness...
And most people in our country must have been mad, because of that situation. But I just wanted to say that the most important thing in this kind of situation... is that to hope for those hostages to return home safe. I mean, a person's life IS the most important thing.

They went to Afghanistan to do what, exactly?
I presume that, whatever it was, they viewed it as God's work.
Unfortunately, it appears that God either did not approve, was not interested, was on vacation, or is defunct.

They went to Afghanistan to do what, exactly?
I presume that, whatever it was, they viewed it as God's work.
Unfortunately, it appears that God either did not approve, was not interested, was on vacation, or is defunct.

You are so funny God has a vacation? who will take over his/her job during the vacation ? BTW, I assume that God is a woman. Because the Afghanistan event just took place in God's period, or PMS.

They went to Afghanistan to do what, exactly?
I presume that, whatever it was, they viewed it as God's work.

Teach English and render medical assistance. Peace Corp type work. It's one of the more noble methods of missionary work, whatever the religion: demonstrate the value of the belief by personal example. It's understandable that it would not be respected or understood in a region where religions are spread by the sword.
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.
- Daniel Patrick Moynahan

Yesterday I went to my friend's house, after dinner, we watched TV together(I normally don't watch TV in my own apartment). the TV program was about this Korean hostage event, so I got to learn this event more. I felt shocked. These missionaries went to Afghanistan for a good purpose, although they knew it would be difficult to spread gospel, teach english, render medical assistance in such a poor and chaotic country, but they still went to Afghanistan to do what they thought was their holy job. they might have known that Taliban wouldn't be kind, but they certainly had no idea how brutal Taliban could be. Killing missionaries? who could do that except beasts...and Taliban?

The two missionaries' families are still heartstricken, I felt sad when seeing the grief and sorrow on their faces. the mother of one of the missionaries passed out several times...

I am glad and relieved that the rest of Korean hostages has gone back home safely, finally. Frankly, I hope all missoonaries won't go to Afghanistan to spread any kindness until Taliban transforms to a reasonable group, but when is that day coming? How long does it take? forever?